Welterweight Nate Loughran’s long-awaited octagon return has been put on hold, and UFC officials are now seeking a new opponent for Erick Silva.

MMAjunkie today learned from a source close to the event that Loughran has been forced to withdraw from a scheduled UFC Fight Night 36 appearance. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the change.

Loughran had looked to return to the UFC for the first time since asking for his release in 2008. The NorCal Fighting Alliance product opened his professional career with nine straight wins, eight of which came by submission, including a UFC debut win over Johnny Rees. However, he suffered an injury against Tim Credeur in a December 2008 contest and quit on the stool before the start of the third round and later asked for his release from the promotion to focus on life outside of the cage.

While Loughran continued to train during his break from competition, he didn’t enter the cage again until March 2012, when he earned a split-decision win over Jamie Jara on the California regional scene.

Meanwhile, Silva is an explosive 29-year-old Brazilian who looks to rebound from a disappointing (and shocking) knockout loss to Dong Hyun Kim in October. While Silva’s upside is undeniable, he’s struggled to find consistency in the cage against top competition, including the loss to Kim, as well as an October 2012 defeat against Jon Fitch.

Francis Ngannou further legitimized himself as a future UFC heavyweight contender on Saturday when he scored a first-round submission victory of Anthony Hamilton in the UFC Fight Night 102 co-main event. See how social media reacted.

ALBANY, N.Y. – Francis Ngannou came into his bout against Anthony Hamilton as the biggest favorite on the fight card, but it likely wasn’t due to his submission skills. Yet the knockout artist Ngannou managed to show some new tricks when he slapped a kimura lock (…)